Bolger Defender?

[JimConlin]

Anybody got anything on Phil Bolger’s Defender dinghy?

[Paul Schweiss]

My only recollection is it was a very traditional and shapely set of lines.

[WI-Tom]

I saw one once, being rowed to shore with a couple and their dog, in an anchorage in Georgian Bay. Looked very nice from what I recall. (This was the only rowing tender I've ever seen in action on the Great Lakes, where the ubiquitous outboard-powered inflatable reigns.

Tom

[Johan R]

Details in the book "Bolger Boats", with many others.

PICT7131.jpg

[Johan R]

There is another 3 pages of info in the book if you are interested, but i will need access to a scanner if you want to be able to read it.

[rbgarr]

Bolger would spin in his grave but for a small Whitehall type it looks like it has enough fullness aft to take a small outboard without too much squatting from the weight of the motor and driver. YRMV.

[Paul Pless]

something electric perhaps
with the battery installed low and forward to offset the weight on the transom

[cyclone]

11’0” x 3’10”
Per Mr. Bolger-
“She’s not a good model for even a very small outboard motor and it seems to me that it would be foolishness to go to this much trouble for a yacht-like appearance and then spoil the effect with a motor.”

[Edward Pearson]

Unladen, all that forward rocker with a substantial aft keel suggests to me she’d track straight and not trip on her forefoot under tow as a tender. The fore and aft reserve buoancy lines are balanced so if she heels or meets a wave beam on she’ll continue in a straight line. The v bottom and bilge profile at 11 x4 will mean she’ll be little affected by side on waves, but she wont be rib stable getting back clambering down from the toe rail of the mothership. She’ll not immerse her transom much if overloaded or trimmed aft. Her sinusoidal waterlines are typical for displacement lower speed efficiency but her max beam and center if buoyancy slightly aft of center will mean she’ll retain some efficiency at higher froude speeds under motor. Provided her transom height is built with respect to prop immersion and you have a tiller extension to sit amidships, she’ll motor as well as you could wish. Less will be more, a 2 or 3 hp ample. She’ll be more efficient under oar or motor than a rib or a planing hull. She’d be a good boat for a sailing rig. At that dimension, for me Herreshoff’s sailing dinghy would be on the cards, that one in the blue book. Because well its a Herreshoff, as its as close as i might ever get...Oughtred’s Guillemot if i wanted a smart sailer with the design work done.

[Rob Hazard]

I have long been an admirer of Defender, but at the same time I've wondered how she'd behave if she were stretched as close to 16ft as plywood planking with a single scarf joint would allow.

[Edward Pearson]

In the same book Small Boats he has the 15’6” version: Victoria, with a picture of him rowing it.

Oughtred’s Acorn 15 are those dimensions Rob. An extremely pretty boat. Various rig options.

[Wayne Poulsen]

And very pretty...loved her for fifty years.